Portio and Demorantes

Anon. (1580)


Historical Records

The history of Portio and demorantes shewen at whitehall on Candlemas daie at nighte enacted by the Lord Chamberleynes servuauntes wholly furnyshed in this offyce whereon was ymployed for scarfes garters head Attyers for women & Lynynges for hattes vj ells of Sarcenett A cytie a towne & vj payre of gloves



(Feuillerat 321, lines 13-17)

Theatrical Provenance

Performed by Sussex's men on Candlemas (02 February 1580) in the evening, at Whitehall Palace before Elizabeth I.


Probable Genre(s)

Romance (?) (Harbage); History (Revels account).


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

Unknown. Wiggins (680) proposes modernising "Demorantes" as "De Morantes", thereby opening up the possibility of a Spanish setting, but even this reading does not produce helpful results in an EEBO-TCP search.


References to the Play

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Critical Commentary

Sibley implicitly endorses J. de Perott's conjecture that the subject matter could be Lamorat and Porcia from the 1548 French version of Amadis de Grecia (1542).

Wiggins (680) notes Sibley's endorsement but regards it as unlikely because whenever the Revels Office scribe was clearly confused about proper names, he left blanks rather than attempting to offer a solution. Wiggins points to Soldan and the Duke of — as a prime example.


For What It's Worth

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Works Cited

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citation goes here

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Site created and maintained by David McInnis, University of Melbourne; updated 20 March 2017.